News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 May 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Steenhuisen says efforts to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease are paying off
# GIWUSA calls on the SARB to drastically cut the interest rate
# And Tennis: Sabalenka through to the French Open third round, while Tsitsipas is knocked out

# Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, says that intensified efforts by his department to control and eradicate foot-and-mouth disease are paying off. This as disease management areas of two provinces, Limpopo and Eastern Cape, will soon be lifted, and an urgent order has been placed for much-needed vaccines to the value of 72-million-rand. Ministry’s spokesperson, Joylene van Wyk, says there are still signs of active virus circulation in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng:

# The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa is calling on the South African Reserve Bank to drastically cut the interest rate. South Africa’s current repo rate remains at 7.5-percent, after SARB chose to keep rates unchanged at its March Monetary Policy Committee meeting. This decision followed three consecutive 25-basis-point cuts. The prime lending rate for commercial banks stands at eleven-percent. GIWUSA president, Mametlwe Sebei, says the current interest rate is a brutal attack on the economy and jobs:

# The DA in Gauteng has welcomed a resolution by the council to request the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, to suspend Sedibeng mayor, Lerato Maloka. This is pending a full investigation into allegations against her. The DA’s Sibusiso Dyonase, says the resolution centres around Maloka, and other municipal officials’ misdeeds in wasting over 500-thousand on a trip to Germany:

# Elon Musk has criticised one of the signature policies of Donald Trump in what is seen as a break from the president he helped to win re-election. The US House of Representatives last week passed what Trump calls his “big, beautiful” bill. It includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks and a pledge to increase defence spending. Musk told CBS News he was disappointed” by the plan, which he felt “undermines” the work he did on reducing spending. He said a bill can be big or beautiful, but he doesn’t know if it can be both.

# Tennis: Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is through to the third round of the French Open following a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann. Defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland saw off Britain’s Emma Raducanu, 6-1, 6-2, while last year’s runner-up Italian Jasmine Paolini moved past Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic, 6-3, 6-3. In the men’s draw, Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante knocked out Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. American duo Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe also made it through to the last 32.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-12-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-874-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-274-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….